UCF graduates struggle to find jobs

November 29, 2010|By Chris Boyle, Special to the Orlando Sentinel

After Brian Amick graduated with his mechanical engineering degree last May, he immediately compiled a list of every major boat manufacturer in the southeast. He contacted between 300 and 400 employers via e-mail or application.

He waited to receive a phone call or an e-mail response. And he waited. And he waited. Only a handful of companies ever contacted him.

"It got to the point where I was happy to receive a negative response, just to know that I was being heard," Amick said.

Amick is just one member of the majority of college graduates who struggle to find work prior to graduation. According to a survey from the National Association of Colleges and Employers, more than 80 percent of students finish their college career without a job lined up.

Amick attributed his three-month-long wait, prior to being hired as a field service representative at Saab Training USA, to a lack of contacts in the engineering profession.

"A lot of companies use online databases now, and unless you have the right words in your résumé, they'll never find you in their system," Amick said. "I know someone who works for Siemens, and I still never got a call back."

His problem is just an example of the cases the UCF Career Services department deals with each week.

THE SOCIAL NETWORK

On Nov. 10, Career Services hosted a workshop titled "A Foot in the Door," which stressed the importance of building a network.

Its own network, KnightLink, currently features more than 20,000 students and former alumni and 11,000 employers. As of January 2011, Career Services will mandate that each student seeking help have an account.

On KnightLink, each student can search for available positions from employers such as Disney, Lockheed Martin and Enterprise Rental Car. In the next few months, the site will feature an enhancement to its résumé-writing module, allowing for a better filing of information.

Despite the tough job market in Orlando, about 420 jobs are listed as available on the site.

Amy Kleeman, the department's director of employer relations, believes that a student has much greater odds of being hired by using KnightLink since a student can schedule an interview with a company on the web.

"Employers that come on campus have a high rate of hiring," Kleeman said. "Rarely do you see an employer not hire one, if not several students when they come here."

THE IMPORTANCE OF INTERNSHIPS

A second problem for Amick in his job search stemmed from his lack of professional experience.

"In my field, even the entry-level positions require experience," Amick said. "If I had it to do over again, I would have applied for an internship way earlier, probably in my sophomore year, just to get my name out there."

According to the 2010 NACE survey, approximately 92 percent of responding companies expected to hire from within their own internship or co-op programs. More than 53 percent of interns received jobs, down from about 56 percent the year before.

Bill Blank, Career Services' director of career development, feels that internships give students a crucial leg up over stiff competition.

"In UCF, you have the second-largest population in the country and [the University of] Florida has the fifth-or-sixth-largest," Blank said. "So many college graduates in Florida mean more competition, with current graduates competing with former alums. I say that students get related experience so they not only have the education but also the experience."

LACK OF EXPOSURE

Even with the second largest undergraduate population in the United States, UCF has less than half of its student body seeking assistance from Career Services. Blank aims to attract a larger number of students earlier in their college careers.

"The goal is to get students from day one and work with them for the two-to-four year period after," Blank said.

Career Services holds workshops, maintains a Facebook page and sets up tables at major campus events to attract attention. Beginning next year with the opening of the new building, Career Services will host full classes for seminars and tours.

Blank intends for a new wave of students to discover the department's benefits.